Reuters does Riyadh. If you want to read more about what to do and where to go in the Saudi capital, please refer to the Riyadh favorites category on this blog.

gulfnews: “A Saudi groom cancelled his wedding ceremony at the last minute after the bride’s father insisted on getting half of his daughter’s salary as long as he lived and on writing a clause to the effect in the marriage contract.”

I’m not sure how I missed this when it was published in December, Saudi lawyer Khalid Alnowaiser has a really, really good piece in Arab News. He know what he is doing. He begins, “I realize I am taking up a very sensitive subject. I also understand that I would be stereotyped as liberal or secular, but I don’t care as long as this article provokes readers to consider thoughtfully the future of our country.” Do read the whole thing.

One of my fav expat blogs is this photo journal by Laylah, a Scandinavian nurse working in Riyadh.

A Moroccan friend of my inlaws waited until the adouls and the family men were present to add into the contract that his daughter’s salary would go entirely to him. The groom was publicly coerced into agreeing, ie to keep the peace said yes. After they married he tried to get the FIL to renegotiate. The FIL wouldn’t so the husband refused his permission for his wife to visit her father–and a year later for his daughter to visit her grandfather. That in effect meant that neither daughter or granddaughter saw the rest of the family either.

This is the same man who held a going away party for his son who was going to Spain to study on scholarship. Mid-party in front of family, friends, and neighbours, he made his son swear on a Quran not to have romantic/sexual relations while away on his 5 year scholarship. He swore on the Quran, failed out, was back in 2 years, married a Moroccan, and his wife refuses to attend any functions including weddings where his family will be present.